Awesome job! I hope that one day I have enough mechanical know how and tools to do something like this (I'm 30 now, better get to work )

This will be like a new bike once your done: new engine and most of the suspension redone!

Well, I'm 51 and Frank is 49 and between us we're 100 years old lol!

If I didn't have Frank as a friend, and his kind offer to use his shop...his lift...his tools and experience, I would NOT have attempted this task, even though I do have enough tools at home to hack through the job.

Last night Frank and I were talking about the old 750 Ducati sitting in his shop, and Frank began to show me some pictures of past restorations he has done, including an old Ducati that had sat underwater after a flood. A few of the pictures he showed me were awesome and made me realize that i was truly blessed to have him around.

Even though it's supposed to be a thread about me "restoring" my SV650, I may go off on tangents for a while as well. I am hoping that Frank (sirbike here on ADV...a long-time lurker) posts some of the pictures of those restorations, as I KNOW some of the Inmates here will dig 'em.
hey Frank...post the video of you draining the "oil" from the flooded Ducati too!

So I went straight to Frank's shop after work last night and got to it.
After removing the last few connections (I listened to Frank and started actually reading the service manual I had) we removed the motor bolts in order and backed off the thrust adjusters to allow the motor to be lowered
On the deck
The old next to the new(er)
Now the swingarm comes off
Look how fucking filthy it is back there.Not seen the light f day for 105,000 miles
That's me unbolting more shit
Ohhh...Clean!
We replaced the suspension pivot with the one from the 2006 bike after greasing well. The bearings on mine were shot
What a bitch assembling the SW Motech centerstand again.
With the 2006 Swingarm installed
Ready for the new(er) motor

So Frank and I had a discussion tonight about SV650 swingarms, and I wanted the opinion of others here based upon the sound logic that Frank presented.
The 2003 naked SV650 had a slightly (3/16") longer swingarm than the "S" model SV650 of the same year. My bike (being originally a naked) had the longer swinger, and the black swinger I am running is shorter.
So I was wondering if the difference, as slight as it is, would be noticable while riding, everythimng else being equal.
Frank flatly said no.
His reasoning? The distance from countershaft sprocket center to rear axle center will be determined by the number of links in the chain. Same number of links used for both length swingers? Same distance (assuming chain stretched tight)
So I can see this reasoning. So why would there be a difference then?

Something to ponder. Back at it again tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully get the newer motor installed.

So I arrived at Frank's shop today shop today just after noon. Hoisted the new motor up on the lift to start the install

Decided to replace the two coolant hoses running from the thermostat housing between the cylinders while access was easy. I have a full silicone hose kit going in.

While we tried to decide how to lift the motor into position, Frank had a customer stop by to get a wheel trued. While he waited while Frank did his wheel on the Park stand we chatted about the motorcycle sitting in the middle of the workshop.
So we thought having the third set of hands would help, so while Frank and I lifted the motor up, the customer slid a Craftsman jack under the motor

Started to raise it up and were having clearance issues with the short rear exhaust header and the swingarm. So we decided to remove the swingarm again. Twas easy. Then, with proper room, began raising the motor up more

So we lined up the top motor mount and, using it as a pivot, slid additional mount bolts in to line it all up. Removed the large jack and then used a small jack to slowly align things

Mounting the replacement clutch pushrod actuator (Ebay special from a 2009 model)

Mouting the front header and collector for the exhaust, New gaskets and new factory bolts (removed the threadlock on the bolts and used anti-seize on them)

You can see more of the new hose kit too

Throttle bodies hooked up and intalled

Frank was also right about another thing. Even though there weer a LOT of connectors and hoses to unhook and reruote and reconnect, I really didn't have to label all of them like I did during the removal of the old motor. Nearly every fitting etc was right where it needed to be and everything hooked back up easily.

The only snafu (if you can call it that) is that when we started to do the final tightening of the thrust sleeves and engine mounting bolts, the very last one didn't seem to line up quite right. You could see the threaded sleeve on the motor wasn't lined up with the collar leading to it. So we loosened all the mounting bolts again, and when I gave the motor a hard thump on the side, there was a "clunk" and suddenly the motor was lined up perfectly. All the bolts slid in like they should this time and we tightened all the thrust sleeves, lock nuts and center bolts to factory specified torque. Easy Cheesy.

Here's a note we left on top, reminding us that the throttle cables need to be adjusted and locked down on the throttle bodies when we pick up the work again next Wednesday.

I am actually having a lot of fun with this. Hopefully the bitch will fire right up and run like a mfer,
All we need to do now is install the airbox and fuel tank, and tidy up some wiring.

Good to see some action taking place in Cleveland! Was that white stuff outside the window snow? I grew up in Shaker Hts but these days I live in N. Cal, where even on the cold Winter days ... Well, it's warmer than Cleveland!

I recently did a rebuild and customization of my long term 76 BMW and I really applaud anyone who takes good care of a bike that's taken care of them.

Kinda late now danimal but I had the same exact problem with the exhaust studs on my Sv, it was only 6 months old when I broke my exhaust bolts when removing the exhaust to paint it black.

I went back with actual stainless exhaust "studs", not bolts, I beleive I bought them at napa and they were for a civic or some other small japanese car, used never sieze on the nuts and I removed the exhaust about a dozen times without ever having a problem after that.

Studs are the way to go because you don't ever have to take them out of the aluminium heads when removing the exhaust, you just remove the nuts and washers and leave the studs in the head, there's a reason nobody uses "bolts" for exhaust flanges on cars from the factory.

Kinda late now danimal but I had the same exact problem with the exhaust studs on my Sv, it was only 6 months old when I broke my exhaust bolts when removing the exhaust to paint it black.

I went back with actual stainless exhaust "studs", not bolts, I beleive I bought them at napa and they were for a civic or some other small japanese car, used never sieze on the nuts and I removed the exhaust about a dozen times without ever having a problem after that.

Studs are the way to go because you don't ever have to take them out of the aluminium heads when removing the exhaust, you just remove the nuts and washers and leave the studs in the head, there's a reason nobody uses "bolts" for exhaust flanges on cars from the factory.

Yeah. Thought about using studs. Decided to use bolts with antiseize (the factory uses fucking loctite on em)
Should be good now for another 100K !

Hopefully the anti-sieze will do the trick, I miss my Sv so freakin much, best bike ever built, loving my Xr650l now that I fixxed everything honda did wrong though, I'll have another Sv someday....maybe a Sv650ds!

Good to see some action taking place in Cleveland! Was that white stuff outside the window snow? I grew up in Shaker Hts but these days I live in N. Cal, where even on the cold Winter days ... Well, it's warmer than Cleveland!

I recently did a rebuild and customization of my long term 76 BMW and I really applaud anyone who takes good care of a bike that's taken care of them.

Good going and good luck!

No..no snow at the present time. We've had (like a lot of the country) a very mild winter.

I'd rather spend the money and time refreshing a bike I love than rolling the dice.